Author: ITPulse

Nigeria’s bus-hailing service provider, PlentyWaka has been admitted into the Techstars Accelerator Program, a global platform for investment and innovation, where founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders and corporations to grow their companies. This new development, which will allow PlentyWaka to join 9 other startups in the Techstars Toronto accelerator program, Class of 2021, is coming as the startup sets its sights on global expansion after a successful one year of moving over 300,000 riders in Nigeria. “We are very excited about this new investment to partner with Techstars. This is the second time a…

The Internet Society has launched a new fellowship program to develop a new generation of Internet champions who will bridge the gap between technology and policy, and become advocates for an open, globally-connected, secure and trustworthy Internet.. According to the Internet Society, the new program, which will open applications for 15 places on the 22nd of March 2021, will equip fellows with technology and policymaking skills vital to building, promoting and defending an open Internet. The Early Careers Fellowship is open to people who are beginning their careers in an Internet-related field and who have ideas for projects that would…

Nigel Green, the Chief Executive Officer of deVere Group, an independent financial advisory organisation has called on regulators to be on high alert as the prices of Bitcoin hit a new record surging past $61,000 for the first time. “Whether crypto cynics like it or not, there’s no getting away from the fact that Bitcoin is becoming an increasingly important part of the global financial system. Bitcoins in circulation are now worth $1 trillion, with prices having rallied 890% over the last year. Most major financial institutions, including investment giants and payment companies, are now backing the world’s largest cryptocurrency,…

In order to encourage technology adoption among young girls and in commemoration of International Women’s Day, GoDo Hub has decided to launch the Techamaka program, which drives tech adoption among young girls through structured programs, mentoring and provision of enabled devices. According to Godo Hub, the program is geared towards reducing the barriers to qualitative economic entry and involvement across all verticals, especially in tech, to ensure that all genders are part of the country’s economic development. “Nigeria’s population is expected to exceed 260 million by 2030, about 50% of that would be female – we must reduce the barriers to…

Nigeria’s telecom regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and its counterpart in the banking industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has agreed on some frameworks regarding the pricing of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services. This was arrived at after the Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami on March 15, 2021, chaired a meeting of key stakeholders to discuss an amicable resolution of the protracted disagreements concerning the appropriate USSD pricing model for financial transactions between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs). The protracted disagreements resulted in the accumulation of outstanding fees for USSD…

A dynamic young Nigeria-based tech company, Virtual Bliss Limited has introduced a new Virtual top-up and bill payment platform that is set to disrupt the already saturated electronic payment industry in Nigeria. Tagged RechargePluss, the platform is debuting with unique offerings that is set to make it a preferred destination in the market, with its easy-to-use and clutter-free service unlike anything seen in the virtual payment industry. Giving an insight to what led to the creation of RechargePluss, the Chief Executive Officer of Virtual Bliss Limited, Mr. Ndubuisi Ihekwereme, explained that the solution came about to make virtual bills payments…

Cybersecurity researchers at Sophos have warned that there is a need to identify other adversaries beyond Hafnium that are exploiting bugs to launch attacks, following the reporting of the Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities and the out-of-band release of security patches earlier this month. One of such adversaries, which cybercriminals are now using to launch attacks is the discovery of DearCry ransomware, where in an article Sophos noted that DearCry ransomware: “DearCry attacks exploit Exchange server vulnerabilities,”. The article outlines some new and interesting discoveries about its encryption behavior and more. According to the article headlined by Mark Loman, a ransomware expert…

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has wielded the big stick on Electronic Settlement Limited by fining the company N5, 000. 0000 over what it described as Data Protection Breach, saying the fine in line with the requirements of the National Data Protection Regulation. Apart from the monetary fine, Electronic Settlement Limited shall be under a six-month information technology oversight by NITDA, which shall involve oversight of the implementation of prescribed security controls and processes. Other punishments meted to the company in order to prevent a repeat of this unfortunate breach, include: That a clear data security and governance…

By Elvis Eromosele Women are the bedrock of society. They, very literally, feed, clothe and inspire the world. It is not far-fetched to see how women are the sinew that holds families and the globe together. In many homes, women make the most important buying decisions, particularly as it relates to what to eat. Women ensure that the world is feed. At every point in time across the world, regardless of the time of day, a woman is shopping for household supplies of food. Every day they struggle with the choices, labour over the cost and agonize over portions. It is between…

In a bid to promote cross-border payments in Sub-Sahara Africa, one of Nigeria’s biggest financial institutions, FirstBank has decided to launch the First Global Transfer (FGT) to aid the transfer of funds across its subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa. The Bank’s subsidiaries in Africa include FBNBank DRC, FBNBank Ghana, FBNBank Gambia, FBNBank Guinea, FBNBank Sierra-Leone, FBNBank Senegal. According to FirstBank, the First Global Transfer (FGT) initiative is specifically designed to ensure safe, timely and improved efficiency in the transfer of funds across the network of FirstBank subsidiaries in Africa, emphasizing that the FGT is not restricted to FirstBank and FBNBank Customers…